Is Public Opinion in Wisconsin Really Turning Against Walker?

Mar 7, 2011

RUSH: Did you see this? Wisconsin senate Democrat leader has asked for a meeting with the governor of Wisconsin on the Illinois border? For crying out loud! A single Democrat has offered to meet with Walker near the DMZ, the demilitarized zone, the Wisconsin-Illinois border! (laughing) I love it. I love it.

Great to have you back, folks. How are you? Rush Limbaugh, a brand-new week of broadcast excellence. Happy to have you. 800-282-2882 is the phone number if you want to be on the program. E-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.

From the New York Times: ‘Talks to Resolve Wisconsin Battle Falter.’ Fred Risser, one of 14 Democrats who left Wisconsin last month to prevent the Senate from approving the collective bargaining measure, ‘said it now seemed conceivable that he and his fellow Democrats would return to Wisconsin at some point without a negotiated ‘ settlement. One, single Democrat… (laughing) Folks, they’ve asked Walker to come alone. This — this one Democrat Senator has asked to meet with Walker near the DMZ, the Wisconsin-Illinois border, and they want him to come alone. I mean, if this doesn’t sound like a good old-fashioned Mafia ambush I don’t know what it is. Talk about ‘gangster government.’ Now, this New York Times story is (as is everything in the New York Times) curious and questionable.

‘If the Democrats return, the Republicans, who hold a 19-to-14 majority in the Senate, are expected to pass the measure. The Democrats say that while they cannot permanently block that outcome, they believe public opinion has turned against the measure and that the Republicans may lose their majority in a recall effort that is now underway against senators over the issue…’Okay. The way I interpret that is the Democrats say that they cannot block the outcome, but that the GOP has lost support and may lose the majority in a recall effort but still they won’t return. Now, what’s wrong with this picture?

Have you heard anything about this, Snerdley? Have you…? (interruption) No, no. Have you heard public sentiment has turned against the governor? (interruption) Well, that’s not what I’m saying. Of course we’d be hearing from liberals. I’m saying is there polling data — is there reliable polling data — that says the Wisconsin public sentiment has turned against Governor Walker? ‘Cause the New York Times says it is, that it’s totally done a 180 now and the people have… (interruption) It was a Rasmussen poll? We’re looking for it. It’s a Rasmussen poll apparently that said Wisconsin voters are now with the Democrats on this.

Well (sigh), then why come back and vote for the thing? Why come back and make it happen? Unless you’re trying to cement the days of the Republicans to defeat, if that’s what the switch in public sentiment means. It’s been 125 days since the elections in Wisconsin. I want to see this Rasmussen poll, because if this is true, if the Democrats have now won the issue, why not come back? Why ask for the governor to show up alone and unarmed, by the way (laughing), at the DMZ. Okay, it’s the Milwaukee Urinal Sentinel poll that says the public has turned on Walker. ‘Opinion polls show sharp division on Walker.’

The Milwaukee Urinal Sentinel online. So we’ve got that. (interruption) Yeah, I know, I did. (laughing) I did. I said ‘credible.’ Now, there have been conflicting stories, too. There was a story over the weekend that Wisconsin Democrats were gonna end the standoff pretty soon, and then the UPI a story this morning: Oh, no, ‘Wisconsin Democrats Deny Standoff to End Soon — Wisconsin Senate Democrats say they don’t plan to return to Madison ‘until workers’ rights are preserved.’ The lawmakers denied a report by The Wall Street Journal that they would return to the capital soon, saying the newspaper took a statement out of context. …

‘The newspaper quoted state Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller as saying, ‘We are now looking at returning to the state Capitol and requiring the senators to take a vote and have them declare who they’re with — the workers or the governor.’ Neither statement was in the newspaper’s story when United Press International reviewed it early Monday.’ It’s peculiar here, folks, how these people all sound more like union negotiators than they do elected state senators. Of course they have to say and do what their paymasters are telling them to (that is the unions) so it somewhat makes sense. We’ll keep a sharp eye on this.

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RUSH: All right, very quickly, the Wisconsin poll in the Urinal Sentinel was actually a Wisconsin policy research institute poll, and here’s how skewed it was. The Republican sample 30%, the Democrat sample 38%, and the neither or just independent were 24%. Refused to identify were 8%. Well, you know, any time you skew a sample that way, you’re guaranteed to get the outcome that you want, which is an anti-Governor Walker result. And that’s the poll that appeared in the Wisconsin paper.

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RUSH: WSAU.com: ‘Governor Scott Walker’s Approval Numbers are Dropping — Four months after he was elected Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker’s approval rating has slipped precipitously,’ and all this is designed to make him cave, by the way.

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RUSH: Scott Walker this afternoon, Madison, Wisconsin, a press conference, talk about a letter he received from Democrat Senator Mark Miller asking to meet in the DMZ, alone, on the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

WALKER: As late as this weekend, yesterday, I authorized two members of my administration to travel to South Beloit, to go across the state line — to do exactly what Senator Miller is asking for in this letter to be done in the future, we did yesterday. We actually did this. Again we didn’t put out a press release because we’re serious about getting this done on behalf of the people of the state. People talk about negotiate. We’ve been doing it for days.

RUSH: He then continued with this…

WALKER: The problem is we have handful of senators who are interested in doing this but we have Senator Miller, who time and time again allows his caucus to stand in the way of progress coming forward. And now I think the public has finally seen in the past 24 hours, firsthand, the frustration that we have felt for days in the sense that they were misled by the statements that Senator Miller made last night to a national media outlet when he said that the Senate was gonna come back, and now today is reversing course on that. I think that’s indicative of the fact that now Senator Miller is misleading the public just like he misled us — and just like, apparently, he seems to be misleading many members of his own caucus.

RUSH: I love this guy. He’s not standing down. Poll data notwithstanding, he’s not standing down. Also in his presser Walker said he was gonna release all of his communications with the Democrats. That ought to be revealing. He is gonna release all of his communications.